Mon 6 May 2012 Session
Saturday (continued) All return to across the street from Primlander Club, to take over watching from Bridgette Von Kant. After a while Johnstone Dives comes out. Compton follows, and others follow Compton. Dives hails a cab and we follow to 84 Mitre Street, EC8. 10:45 Dives enters a Victorian office building, which is mostly empty, except for "Horace & Moore Architects" on the 3rd floor. We are unable to pick the front or back door locks. 11:00 Fabrizio, on lookout, spots Dives heading off somewhere. Compton follows Dives through alleys eastwards (towards Whitechapel.) He seems to be trying to avoid being followed, but we do not think he spotted Compton. Hengst and Fabrizio break into the office building from the rear. On the 3rd floor they manage to pick the lock into the architects offices. There are footprints in the dust. Hengst steps in the footprints barefooted to avoid leaving a trace. He finds in a rear room: *A red occulty looking design on the floor, identified as Vesica Piscis: *Map of London East End, with the sites of the 7 Jack the Ripper murders marked and connected in a similar design to that in the centre of the Vesica Piscis. *Weather reports from 1888-1891. *Old newspapers from 1888-1891. *~250 books. 23:50 Dives returns with a slim book or sheaf of papers under his arm. Based on the time he was gone (50 mins), he could have only travelled less than 2 miles, and probably little more than 1 mile, through the twisty alleys. ---- Sunday Following morning we head to New Gravel Lane, Wapping to try to find Bowers. Enquiries reveal Bowers home to be at number 17. No answer, and peering inside, it looks like the place has been "turned over". We break in, and discover "ma" Ellen Bowers, apparently crushed to death, literally into the base of the sofa.There is an open bookcase, containing a book on Latin grammar, and a sliver of leather snagged on a nail, which we later determine to be from the cover of the Cadis. We also find a letter under the coffee table, addressed to Ambrose Bowers: Opening and reading the letter seems to summon up some kind of animaton formed from the various mundane bits and piece about the room, accompanied by an ear-splitting screeching sound. Attempting to flee, we find the front door is locked/jammed. Compton hurls the coffee table through the front window and we flee. Fabrizio, who was upstairs finding nothing interesting, manages to force the front door open and flee. ---- We then decide to investigate some of the Jack the Ripper murder locations noted on the map seen in the Mitre Street office. At murder 5 location, the intersection of two alleys, we find Bridgette examining the scene. There is a pool of blood and splatter on a nearby wall. The blood appears to be 6-12 hours old. There is also a scorch mark on the wall, in a rectangular shape, which we ponder might have been a mystic portal. Bridgette mutters something about "dealing" with Dives before leaving. After this, we checked the Tens Bells for Bowers, who wasn't there, and left a note with contact details, asking him to contact us. Fabrizio tries to see Louis De Castris, but he refuses. Compton blags his way into Louis' rooms by posing as a drunken distant cousin of Louis, but is quickly ejected. However, Louis appears to have two arms, where Fabrizio formally reported him having just one! Fabrizio then goes to the Primlander Club to see if he can get more information from Dives. However, when Fabrizio asks Dives about the Vesica Piscis, he realises that we must have been the ones who broke into the offices at Mitre Street, and discharges us of his commission. Back at the shop, we find Bridgette has broken in and is looking for bandages - she is rather beaten up, curtesy of the two armed Louis. She says in a matter of fact kind of way that all the De Castris are mad. She also mentions that Paul Fletcher's ship is due in the docks in 1 day. ---- Monday Fabrizio goes to the Royal Astronomical Society, to find out more about Paul Fletcher, including what he looks like. He is a moustachioed fellow. A prodigy who mapped the southern constellations. He cut off all contact 6 years ago. We receive a letter to Fabrizio that just says : ", Union Street, Whitechapel, 7pm Tuesday." We presume this to be from Bowers, and the date/time of his auction of the Cadis. There is also a letter to Hengst from Bridgette to meet her at the docks at 3pm. Prior to going to the docks, Hengst & Compton investigate some other Jack the Ripper murder sites: *At 3 we find many an excess of tramps with patches over their right eyes! On questioning they all seemed to have suffered a variety of innocuous injuries to their right eye 4 or 5 days ago. *At 4, in an alley, we find a huge chalked eye on a wall. *At 7 we look up to see a flock of crows apparently flying in a pattern of the Vesica Piscis!